[TheForge] Have you run your Nazel/Chevette lately?

[Mike Spencer]

Okayyy.... Back On Topic, eh?

> Have you run your Nazel/Chevette lately?

Nitpick: That's "Alldays/Cavalier".

No.  I *have* run it single-handed, i.e. without a 2nd guy to drive the
hammer, the Chevy or both.  I've hammered hot steel and hot wrought
iron with it.  I have proof of concept.  That is, I put it back
together right, there is reasonably good control, nothing goes
bash-bash that isn't supposed to.  (Something did, but I fixed it.) It
hits like a sonoffabitch.

But it takes a half an hour or so to start: install battery, check
fuel for water, re-attach some cables and switches, lube external
throttle, check the tires & oil, remove squirrel nests from engine
compartment etc.

And when it's running, it's pretty scary.  The car's going about 40
mph and straining hard.  What happens to that big irreplaceable hammer
gear if I blow out a tire from chafing?  Especially if the tether
tears free?  What happens, for that matter, to tender little me?  I
can't concentrate on the iron and think about that stuff at the same
time.

This spring, I'm going in pursuit of either (a) an old tractor with
sufficient HP and a good PTO or (b) an industrial engine with a
governor.  (3PH is out of the question and 15HP is getting pretty
heavy duty -- not to mention heavy $$ -- for a converter or a straight
single phase motor, even on a 200A entry.)

A last resort will be that I retire my '81 4x4 pickup.  Remove the
rear drive shaft and replace it so that it becomes a PTO.  Then I can
move the truck around with the front wheels in 4WD, then put it into
2WD and only the rear shaft goes, to drive the hammer.  I have the
drive-gear & shaft from the original 15HP electric motor.  

With the power plant not trying to take off at 40mph, some pillow
block bearings and other parts from the Farmer's Co-op together with a
little welding should give me a much safer rig.

Be nice to find a mechanical tach with the right RPM range so I
could rev it up to just the right speed instead of guessing.

- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^

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